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Should Warne Have Captained Australia (Tests)?
- Thread starter Pratters
- Start date
Son Of Coco
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
He probably should have, I think he would have been brilliant. Can understand why CA were reluctant to give him the captaincy though after he managed to get himself into hot water on a number of occasions.
subshakerz
International Coach
Yes, but he only has himself to blame for not being selected. At the times both Waugh and Ponting were safer choices as captains.
bagapath
International Captain
well, he would have made a good captain. and with such a good team to lead, the results would have been awesome. but, the results were great anyways. and warne's cricketing knowledge was always respected and used by his skippers. for god's sake, s.waugh lost only 9 tests. and ponting, despite australia re-joining the pack, has lost only 11 tests so far.
so, i think, warne captaining australia is not a big loss. coming to think of it, steady characters like waugh or gilly or the new ponting sound like better choices to instill a bit of discipline compared to the more maverick warne. this is not the walters/botham era. i think the aussie selectors did the right thing in allowing warne to concentrate more on his own game and made steady heads lead their teams.
so, i think, warne captaining australia is not a big loss. coming to think of it, steady characters like waugh or gilly or the new ponting sound like better choices to instill a bit of discipline compared to the more maverick warne. this is not the walters/botham era. i think the aussie selectors did the right thing in allowing warne to concentrate more on his own game and made steady heads lead their teams.
Bloody Hell
School Boy/Girl Cricketer
Yes - pissed off the wrong people.
Should have captained after Waugh.
Should have captained after Waugh.
Streetwise
Banned
A great player but he did not have the overall skills to lead the Australian team. Warne himself needed managing and if he was captain it would have been putting the rooster in the hen house.
Top_Cat
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Didn't know any of the Aussie team swung that way. Then again, I always thought Warnie would be pretty persuasive, like Bill Clinton on Family Guy persuasive.
"Wow, you are good. You are really, really good."
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Richard
Cricket Web Staff Member
Certainly wasn't an option to follow Stephen Waugh as Australia's first Test post-Waugh was also the first time Warne was back following his ban. Arguable that he was an option ahead of Waugh post-Taylor, but I can quite understand why they went for Waugh. There was no need to take a risk when you can go for the safe option.
Stephen Waugh was hardly a poor captain. Maybe Warne might've been a better one, but it wasn't like having the average Waugh ahead of the maybe-brilliant Warne handicapped Australia is it?
Stephen Waugh was hardly a poor captain. Maybe Warne might've been a better one, but it wasn't like having the average Waugh ahead of the maybe-brilliant Warne handicapped Australia is it?
BoyBrumby
Englishman
Tactically he seemed to have the chops for it but, even leaving aside all his off-field indiscretions, he'd have to have been a "do as I say, not as I do" type of skipper. It's no secret Warney was never the best trainer and had quite an appetite for junk food. Captaincy could've been the making of him, I suppose but (unlike Ponting whose youthful scraps were just that, the mistakes of a young fella growing up in public) age & responsibility never seemed to temper his appetite for lard or anything else. He was well into his mid-30s, married and still chasing skirt whilst at Hants.
Pigeon
Banned
However true, Warne had the on-field game to put all those silly off field stuffs to oblivion. There was never another man in the team who could singlehandedly raise the morale of the team even in desperate situation perhaps except for McGrath in the team. His tactical nous was immense and his reading of the game, which is evident in his TV commentary these days.
vic_orthdox
Global Moderator
Would have loved him to be captain, but timing of the changes of captaincy meant that it would never work.
bagapath
International Captain
warne was a great team player, no doubt. but we have seen in the past how great players with the good of the team in mind still failed to be great skippers.
i think warne's skills, both cricketing and people management, would have come in handy in dealing with team mates and he would have set great fields and made the best bowling decisions most of the time. still he may have felt a little uneasy in making the newbies go through rigorous training and treated diciplinary issues like curfew etc with disdain which might have affected the long term morale of the team. all this is speculation i admit and the jury is out on whether an active social life is good or bad for a professional sportsman. but still, not everyone is as gifted as warne (or miller) to forget the extra curricular activities on field and be a world beater despite a hangover. it is possible that lesser players in the team would have become like ian botham in his last 7 years wasting away their talents.
great skippers of the last 25 years, imran, border, waugh, lloyd, were all disciplinarians. i would give warne a 50-50 chance of being a great test skipper over long term. s.waugh wasnt bad at that anyway. so australia didnt lose anything by not giving warne the responsibility. in fact, they may have got a few extra good players for the next generation because of the discipline under the elder waugh.
i think warne's skills, both cricketing and people management, would have come in handy in dealing with team mates and he would have set great fields and made the best bowling decisions most of the time. still he may have felt a little uneasy in making the newbies go through rigorous training and treated diciplinary issues like curfew etc with disdain which might have affected the long term morale of the team. all this is speculation i admit and the jury is out on whether an active social life is good or bad for a professional sportsman. but still, not everyone is as gifted as warne (or miller) to forget the extra curricular activities on field and be a world beater despite a hangover. it is possible that lesser players in the team would have become like ian botham in his last 7 years wasting away their talents.
great skippers of the last 25 years, imran, border, waugh, lloyd, were all disciplinarians. i would give warne a 50-50 chance of being a great test skipper over long term. s.waugh wasnt bad at that anyway. so australia didnt lose anything by not giving warne the responsibility. in fact, they may have got a few extra good players for the next generation because of the discipline under the elder waugh.
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bagapath
International Captain
when steve waugh retired in 2004, ponting had already led australia to a world cup triumph, a tournament from which warne had to withdraw because of the drugs scandal. ponting was 29, on top of his game and had the respect of his team mates. warne was already 35 and no one knew when he would be back in the team and whether he would be good enough to play for long. the decision to handover the captaincy to ponting was a no brainer.
EDIT: ponting won the next world cup as well. and also extracted a 5-0 ashes revenge on england. however better a person could have been as a skipper, these results could never have been improved.
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Pigeon
Banned
But for Warne and McGrath the 5-0 would never have happened.
I am fairly confident that the last 11 months have really shown the real Ponting, not the superhero, but the brilliant batsman who can also succumb to pressure.
Uppercut
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Lost the Ashes for the first time in forever though.
Warne was an awesome captain on the field. Personally I'm not bothered about off the field so I would have given him the captaincy, but I can see why Cricket Australia had reservations. They're the ones that have to pick up the pieces when there's some kind of Warne-related scandal.
Pigeon
Banned
Of course, the drug taint meant Warne could never be captain.. However, I am just speculating that Warne had he been made captain, would have been awesome. Ideally, yes, I think Warne should have been skip, in a world where what happens off field strictly stays off field. But that's hardly the case.